Linux Mint Debian Edition is not as well known as its Ubuntu-based sibling. But it offers the convenience of a rolling release along with the advantages of using Debian as its base. Linux Mint Debian Edition 2 has finally been released and you can download the Cinnamon or MATE versions today.

LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) is a very exciting distribution, targeted at experienced users, which provides the same environment as Linux Mint but uses Debian as its package base, instead of Ubuntu.

LMDE is less mainstream than Linux Mint, it has a much smaller user base, it is not compatible with PPAs, and it lacks a few features. That makes it a bit harder to use and harder to find help for, so it is not recommended for novice users.

LMDE is however slightly faster than Linux Mint and it runs newer packages. Life on the LMDE side can be exciting. There are no point releases in LMDE 2, except for bug fixes and security fixes base packages stay the same, but Mint and desktop components are updated continuously. When ready, newly developed features get directly into LMDE 2, whereas they are staged for inclusion on the next upcoming Linux Mint 17.x point release. Consequently, Linux Mint users only run new features when a new point release comes out and they opt-in to upgrade to it. LMDE 2 users don’t have that choice, but they also don’t have to wait for new packages to mature and they usually get to run them first. It’s more risky, but more exciting.

AndyA: "I installed it yesterday, keeping my old /home partition. Its working brilliantly, even on this 9 year old PC. The only complaint is that I have to remove ‘quiet splash’ from the boot parameters every time. Fortunately I don’t reboot often!"

Dawid: "This is great news! Contgratulations for the team! Now I’m waiting for the promised upgrade path from the original LMDE. I guess some time is needed for this to mature but I’m thrilled for this new release. Already tried the RC on one system and it’s great, as always...:)"

Lacko: "Thank you , i have an old Desktop PC and will try to install the Mate Version of LMDE. Is it based on debian stable that will come out in 2 Weeks or on which debian, Nr. Name?"

Stefan: "I am very excited. I switched from Win7 to Mint entirely over a year ago. I will definitly take a look in Virtualbox and Seed the Torrent. Maybe thats for me, since I love MATE and thought about switching to Debian some time ago. With a Mint on top it can’t be bad...:)"

Speaking of Linux Mint, the codename for version 17.2 will be Raphaela. Clement Lefebvre, the leader of the Linux Mint developers, shared this tidbit in a recent blog post.

Silviu Stahie at Softpedia reports:

The name of the next Linux Mint 17.2 release has been chosen and it's going to be "Rafaela." The project continues with the feminine names, so the new code name should be no surprise.

Linux Mint is the second most used operating system after Ubuntu, which makes it extremely popular. It has a lot of users and its two main flavors, Cinnamon and MATE, have a lot of fans. The code names are not usually all that important, but it helps the community to identify a release much more easily than a version number that might not be all that clear.

Unlike other projects that outsource the naming process to the community, and that is not always the best idea. The community tends to choose weird names and developers are forced to adopt them. For example, the Fedora naming process used to be like this, but they have since abandoned it.